Luminous Landscape Forum

At the beginning of June I will travel for work reasons to Edimburgh, after several days there working and photographing at sunset, I will be able to move around. I will leave June 7th afternoon. My idea is just to visit a few places, spend time on them looking for locations, and after reading several threads here and in other photographic sites I como out with this plan.

Friday 7th Afternoon - Traveling from Edimburgh to Loch Tay, sleep around that area and take some photographs...Saturday 8th - Up to UllapoolSunday 9th - Also in UllapoolMonday 10th - Move to the aera of ApplecrossThursday 11th - Isle of SkyeWednesday 12th - Isle of SkyeThursday 13th - Isle of SkyeFriday 14th - Glencoe areaSaturday 15th - Glencoe areaSunday 16th - Back to Edimburgh airport, to take my plane back to Barcelona.

I know June maybe it is not the best time to visit scotland, you know, quite early sunrise, and lot of mosquitos or similar insects... but my company is paying the plane tickets...

I also know there is a member of this forum that has a B&B in the Isle of Skye, for sure I will contact him...

Any comments in my initial plan? (even if it is to say this is the most stupid photographic plan that I have ever read), this will be the first time that I visit something in Scotland that it is not Edinburgh or Glasgow, I'm just interested in photographing landscape...

I read a lot about the problem of midges... after seeing this link, this is the first time I'm really scared...

Don't worry David, the dreaded midges aren't that bad. If there is the slightest breeze they cannot fly at all and so coastal shots are usually quite safe, as there is usually a sea breeze.

Places I suggest you need to go to on and around Skye, so you can plan ahead:

Plockton viewpoint for a sunset - go to Plockton and then drive through the small harbour town right up till you reach a dead-end, turn around and park in the layby, through a gate on your left and up a rocky hill (only ten minutes or so) and you have an amazing view of Loch Carron (http://photography.info/LochCarron.jpg) and various islands and a great chance of capturing a great sunset over the Cuillins.

Elgol - go into Broadford and then take the turning for Elgol (http://photography.info/Elgol.jpg), quite a long drive to get you to another great sunset spot.

Sligachan is good with the old bridge, so is Neast Point, Staffin slipway and the Quairang, as well as Ord, Gillean Beach, Fairy Pools, Coral Beach. Heaste is a good place for the Dawn shoot, as well as Mam Ratagan, but you would need to be up around 3am at this time of year to get out and setup in plenty of time for a dawn shoot.

Midges much less of a problem in the east and north-east of Scotland than in the west. But any half-decent bug dope will keep them at bay.

In June, expect less than a couple of hours of darkness in north. So be prepared to do much of you shooting between 10:00pm and midnight and between 2:00am and 4:00am. Sleep or travel in middle of day.

Many of the best landscapes will be obtained by shooting from the tops of mountains at dawn and dusk. Unless you are a very experienced mountaineer, don't attempt the ascent or descent in the dark. Climb up in daylight, shoot the sunset, then wait in position for an hour or two and shoot the sunrise before climbing back down in daylight.

Certainly don't miss north-west Highlands and Skye, but don't ignore the Grampian area, Speyside and the Moray coast. There simply isn't a "most scenic" area of Scotland - you need to capture the range and variety by exploring both east and west.

Don't worry if the weather is foul. Much of Scotland's scenic grandeur shows up best in shitey weather. A lot of tourists miss the best shots by putting away their cameras when the skies turn dark and show up at their most dramatic.

Yes, I know it is going to be hard to be out the best hours in terms of light... That it is one of the reasons I don't want to be moving around a lot, so I make a base for three days in one place and I can get some decent hours of sleep during daytime... It is going to be tough, but I'm sure I will enjoy it ;-).

Also, about the weather, although I have been living in Barcelona for the last two years, I'm from Santiago de Compostela in the Galicia country in Spain, 90% of the time it is raining, so I'm used to the bad weather, and I'm the kind of person that tries until last second to see if the conditions break and get better to take a photograph, many of my best photographs were done like this... bad weather a lot of times means great photographs.

About your national drink, I have to buy a bottle of that as a present for a friend of mine, another friend told me to go to Dagda pub at Edinburgh to try different kinds of that national drink. I don't exactly which kind likes my friend, I will make sure that at least I like the drink, so in case my friend does not like it, more for me!!!

Thanks again, now I have to redefine my plan... I will probably miss a lot of places, but I'm quite sure this is not going to be my last trip to Scotland!!!

You are getting excellent advice here and I second Dave's comments about Plockton and Elgol.Enjoy your vacation and while you may take pics of Eilean Donan do not stay at the B&B in Dornie.Regarding Scotland's national drink, my own personal highly opinionated ranking can be found here:

You are getting excellent advice here and I second Dave's comments about Plockton and Elgol.Enjoy your vacation and while you may take pics of Eilean Donan do not stay at the B&B in Dornie.Regarding Scotland's national drink, my own personal highly opinionated ranking can be found here:

Glad you gave the correct pronunciation of Glenmorangie, Ian. Many foreigners place the accent on the "a". (Just as many mis-pronounce Islay.) But your pronouncialtion of Bunnahabhain (Boona-haa-vane) is a bit suspect, possibly because you mis-spelt it. :)

Have you tried many single cask malts? (As opposed to single malts which are blends of distillations from a single distillery.) That way you can really ramp up the intensity of your experimentation (if your liver holds out).

You are of course correct and I have updated the spelling on the whisky page. I had to look at the empty bottle on my bar shelf to make sure.

As an ex-pat Weegie I have little patience with Gaelic spelling. It seems to me that whomever turned the verbal language into the written form was probably a serial cheat at Scrabble, throwing in an untold number of spare letters that have no relationship to the spoken form.

Single cask products are very difficult to find in Ontario and very expensive, so my experimentation so far has been limited to those on the list. I once thought that photography was an expensive hobby but drinking whisky beats it by a mile.

As an ex-pat Weegie I have little patience with Gaelic spelling. It seems to me that whomever turned the verbal language into the written form was probably a serial cheat at Scrabble, throwing in an untold number of spare letters that have no relationship to the spoken form.

:D

Almost as difficult as Weegie spelling. Gaunanodaethat. Remember Parliamo Glesca?

Just got back yesterday from my trip to Scotland. I wish I had nine days to tour. Had 5 days of golf and 4 days for photography. Compromised on both. :-) I did get up at 4 AM on several days to take early morning photos. Will post mine soon.

I recommend Glengarry Castle Hotel for a one night stay. (Near Ft. William) Not a 5 star hotel or anything, but has very nice staff and good hospitality. (At least compared to the US)

I should have post this last monday, but live got in the middle... as usual...

Anyway, I returned last Sunday from Scotland, they were 9 fantastic days, some rainy, some sunny, but all of them enjoyable... even if I have to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to try to catch a colorfull sunrise (after that I went back to the hotel to sleep a few more hours)

I stayed at Dave's B&B at Skye, and I have to say it was the best place I went during this short trip. Dave and his wife made my stay wonderful and if you want to know where to go to photograph, I don't think there is better information that the one provided by Dave, each morning he suggested to me a route, the only danger it is that we started talking, for long time, running into the danger that neither I did any photography or him his chores... and the black pudding at Skye... forget about Haggis or Whisky, go for the black pudding there...

Thanks again for your tips and recomendations! Now I have some GBs of photos to select and proccess...

I stayed at Dave's B&B at Skye, and I have to say it was the best place I went during this short trip. Dave and his wife made my stay wonderful and if you want to know where to go to photograph, I don't think there is better information that the one provided by Dave, each morning he suggested to me a route, the only danger it is that we started talking, for long time, running into the danger that neither I did any photography or him his chores... and the black pudding at Skye... forget about Haggis or Whisky, go for the black pudding there...

Thanks again for your tips and recomendations! Now I have some GBs of photos to select and proccess...

Hi Dave,

Thank you so much for those kind words, I am really glad that you enjoyed your stay with us on the IoS and yes you are right, once we got chatting each morning, the time just flew by - I think you are just as obsessed with photography as I am :)

I am sure you must have taken some really good images on and around Skye and I also look forward to seeing some of your work.